Spurious coin separator



Feb. 28, 1933. E, P. DONNELLAN 1,899,560

SPURIOUS' COIN SEPARATOR Filed Aug. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORiaaaiziflbmm Feb. 28, 1933. E. P. DONNELLAVN 1,399,560

SPURIOUS COIN SEPARATOR FiledAug. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedFeb. 28, 1933 Q q UNITED TATES mwnnn '2. DonnELnAn, or nnooxnYmnnw was,Ass'renon crown-THIRD To JOHN J. DONNELLAN, or BROOKLYN, nEwYoR gnnnoars-"ra sin 'ro AMEs L. nourish.

LAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK PATENT;OFFICE,

7 sroaious com summon 1 V Application filed-Angustfli 1 931. Seria1 no.559,705. I

This invention relates. generally .to coin separators, and theinventionhas reference,

'more particularly'to a novel coin separator.

especially adapted for use in connection with slot machines forseparating spurious or counterfeit coins from genuine coins.

Heretofore, considerable loss'has beensuse 'tainedeach year by ownersand operators of slot machines, such as slot vending machines andtelephone pay. stations, and the like, owing tothe use byirresponsiblepersons of counterfeit .coins or other simulated coins.

' The principal object of the. present invention is to provide a novellcoin separator which is adapted to separate the, great majority ofspurious coins from genuine coins, thesaid coin separator being readilyadapted .for application to slot machines for effecting the rejection ofspurious coins, thereby preventing the use of such spurious coins inthese machines. 5.

Another .object of the present invention lies in the provision of anovel coin'separator providing means for automaticallyseparatingspurious coins of either lesser weightor lesser diameter thangenuine coins from the latter. a Still another object of-thepresent'invem -tion is to providea novel spuriouscoin separator whichisofsimple, compact construction and involves a minimum of parts andwhich may be easily manufactured 'in' large quantities. i Other objectsof this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated,will'b'e clearly understood fromthe following detailed description ofthesame.

The invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich: i

Fig. I is a -view'inelevationwithparts brokenaway showing a telephonepay station box eq1 1ipped with the novel, spurious coin separator ofthe present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged partsectional view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1;1

. Fig.- 3 1s anv enlargedfragmentaryjsecwhen a genuine coin passestherethrough.

5 a vi ewisimilar to 4 but illustrates the operation of the device whena spurious coin :passes therethrough.

Fig. 6is'an enlarged sectional View taken along IlinBf-B of Fig. 4; v

, Fig.1 is an-xenlarged sectional view taken substantiallyv allongline7+7 of Fig. 5;

FigsJS- and 9flareviewssimilar to Fig. 2 of slightly -mo dified forms ofconstruction; anc

Fig. 10 .is. .an enlarged fragmentary sec tion taken along line 10-10 ofFig. 5. V

Similar' characters ,ofreference are anployed in all of the hereinabovedescribed views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to said drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates aslot machine equipped with the novel spurious coin separator ofthepresent invention. Slot machine 1 "is-illustrated as consisting of atelephone pay station @bo x but it is to be understood "that the novel.coin separator of the present nvention may-be used. with any type ofslot machine. .Thet'elephonebox of Fig. 1, is

.Ilpvel spurious,coinseparator ofithis invention is similarly applied-toeachdeno'minaas applied to a single coin denomination, for

example the quarter, denomination.

illustrated as having quarter, dime and. nickel openings 2, 3 andagrespe ctively. The

Q The quarter opening 2 conducts coins to an 7 inclined'quarter slot 5(see especially Fig. 2) providedin an inclined member-or plate 6.Theslot 5 inclines downwardly and rearwardly, whereas theplate 6containing the slot 5 "inclines transversely somewhat with respect toavertical position, so that coins whilerolling. down this slot are causedtov lean upon and slideover the, inner wall 19 of thisslot. The slot. 5"is adapted to conduct coins to a suitable quart-er receptade, such asreceptacle 7, provided in the lower portion of the machine 1. It willheapparent that the scoin before reaching receptacle 7 may passthrougha-registering device, desired, or may perform other operat onssuch as. closing anelectric circuit. 1

The-lower wall orledge 8' of slot 5 isprefstantially rectangular shape,which opening serves as a discharge orifice for spurious coins. Opening9 is of slightlyilesser width than the diameter of a quarter so thatgenuine coins in moving alon s'lot'5 will:passiby this opening withoutfa ling therethrough. The lower wall 24 of operiing') is downwardlyinclined away from slot as especially shown in Figs. 6yand'7. ()pening'9communica-tes with an inclined slot 10, (see.Fig. 3)

which inclined slot is "adapted to convey spurious coins passing'throughopening 9 to a suitable receptacle. Thus'in Fig. l the slot 10 conveysspurious coins simulating quar- 'tersto a receptacle "1'1. It 'will beapparent, however, that ifdesired these spurious coins could be conveyedto the *return coin .box 12. a spam 'The plate 6"has a'recess 13provided therein of the same depth as slot 5 and communieating with-thisslot. A lever '14 is pivotally mounted within-recess 13 :and cooperateswith the opening 9 in ejecting spurious'coins out through this opening9.The lever 14'is preferably pivoted upon hardened point bearing pins 16and '17, respectively, which pins project into conforming depressionsprovided in the sides of lever '14. The bearing pin 16 is illustratedgasfixed inasuit- .able aperture provided in plate 6 (see especially Figs.6 and '7') and the bearing pin117 is illustrated as threaded=through anaperture provided in arbearing'lug '18 formed on the plate 6 inoverlying relation 'to recess '13. A cover plate 21' is illustrated as;mounted upon plate 6 and overlies s'lot'5 and recess 13.

This cover plate is illustrated as cut out at 22, to accommodate thebearing lug 18. It willbe apparent that the bearing lug 18 could beomitted and the bearing pin '17. directly mounted in cover'plate'21,'ifdesired.

The upper surface 23 of'lever 14 is adapted to serve in effect as acontinuation of lower ledge 8 so that'genuine coins while passing byopening'9roll along the upper surface 123. The upper surface 23 is alsopreferably inclined similarly to ledge 8 so as to form'an acute anglewith the inner wall 19 of slot 5. 'WVhen lever 14 is positionedso-thatits upper surface 23 is parallelrto ledge'8, asespecially shownin Fig. 4, this upper surface .23 is-positioned sli htly below the loweredge of opening9, whereby a narrow guidingedge portion 25 is providedlbytheEinner Wall19 adjacent opening 9 to prevent the accidental shiftingof the lower portion of the coin counterclockwise, as viewed in TFig.2,'"s'o that the upper and forward .end ofthisjlever projects abovethe ledge '8"and' provides a forward abutting surface or shoulder 28,

which shoulder is impinged upon by coins rolling down.ledge-.,8. Theweights 26 are so adjusted that the weight of a twenty-five centpiecerollingdown-ledge 8 and engagihg the lever will justcounterbalancethe ieffect.

ofthese'weights and will depresstheforw-ard end of lever 14 and bringtheupper-surface 23 of thislev-er intoparallelpositioniwith respect toledge '8, as shown inFigv 4. 5 The lever '14 is formed with aforward-projec- 13101129 adapted to engage an overhanging portion 30- ofledge 8" to limit the counterclockwise turning movementof:lever-i14.;underi ace. tion-ofw'eights'26. A pin stop31lis illustrateed as provided within .recess "13 Iaiid serves- 't0 'limit the clockwisemovementof lever '14 asviewed in Fig. 2, this clock-wise an'novementbeing causedlby coinspassing over the lever:

In'use,=when a genuine coin, .i. e;,a quarter, 1s 'inserted through'opening 2;the-samerdrops .onto ledge 8 and commences "to roll down. this-ledge'with theflat surface of .the coin sliding over the inner wall :19ofslot5. When-the coin reaches the forward shoulder .28 of lever- 14,:the coin tends to ride up on this shoulder and the weight of thecoin,- being. such as just to counterbalance the action ofweights .26,serves to depress the forward end ofglever 14 so Lthat'this lever,turnsintothe position illustrated in Fig. 4. As the coin continues toroll, it rides over the uppersurfac'e'23 of lever 14, the bottom edge:of the coin engaging .the :narrowguide portion 25 of the backwall-:19:andztheupper.edge of the coin engage -ing:theupper marginaledge portion :ofopening 9, so that the coin is prevented from-fall;

ring throughopening 9 and passes this openingand is laterconveyed'intothe coin recep -tacle 7. soon as the coin moves off. of.

lever 14, the weights 26 serve toturn lever into its inclined positionshownin Let it be assumed that lesser weight :than V a genuine quarteris. now inserted througheopening'2. This coin falls onto ledge 8 androlls down this-ledge, until a spurious coin of iio Ithe samestrikes theforwardshouldeiy28 of lever 14. Since'the spuriouscoin is offl'ess'ei;

weightathanaquarter, the same will fail to .depress the forward .end. oflever :14 and this coin will there'forrideupand over the shoul-'-der"28, as illustratedin dot andtdashilines I:

in Fig; The coin nowcontinues .to. roll pecially shown in Figs. 5 and.7.This is because the coin normally bears somewhat against the inner wall19, and as the bottom edge of the coin can not engage the lower marginaledge portion of rear wall 19, this bottom edge slides inwardly under theaction of gravity, as especially shown .in Fig. 7, causin thecoin todrop through opening 9,

sliding over. the inclined wall 24, and into'the inclined slot 10 to bedischarged into the spurious coin receptacle '11 or to be otherwisedisposed of,'-as desired. It will'be notedthat the coin will bedischarged through opening 9 regardlessof the relative diameter of thecoin. Thus, the coin may be either larger or smaller than a quarter andyet the same will be discharged through opening 9 by the action of lever14. Inasmuch as the great majority of spurious coins are lighter thanthe corresponding genuine coins, the great majority of fictitiouscoinsare thusly discharged through the opening 9 by .the act? on of lever 14.

I In the event that the fictitiouscoin inserted through opening 2 isheavier than a genuine coin or quarter, the same will roll down ledge 8and will depress lever 14 and will roll along the upper surface 23 ofthis lever. If this fictitious coin is of the same diameter or of alarger diameter than a genuine coin, the same will not fallthroughopening 9, but will be conveyed to the coin receptacle 7 However, ifthis fictitious coin is of lesser diameter than a genuine coin, theupper edge'thereof will notengage the'uper edge of opening 9, and hencesuch fictitious 'coin will be discharged through opening 9 and into thefictitious coin receptacle; Thus, it will be'noted that the novel coinseparator of the present invention serves to separateout all spuriouscoins with the exception-of those which have the same or greater weightthan agenuine coin and the -same or slightly greater diameter than agenuine coin. Of course, should thefictitious coin have a. relativelylarge diameter, the same could not be inserted through opening 2. Theslots (not shown) in'plates 6 and 6 for conveying the dime and nickelcoins, respectively, are similarly equipped with the separatingmechanism heretofore described in connection with the quarter slot 5, sothatfictitious coins of these denominations are discharged intoreceptacles 11 and 11, respectively, whereas the genuine coins aredischarged into receptacles 7 and 7", respectively. Plates 6 and 6 havecover plates 21 and 21", respectively, (see Fig. 1). j

It will be aparent that many changes may be made in the construction ofthe novel spurio'us coin separator of this invention while-stillremaining within the scope of this invention. For example, the threadedrod 27 instead of projecting outwardly from the lower end of lever 14,may extend in underlying relation to one arm of this lever, as showninFig. 8. In this figure, the rod 27 issecured in an extension 33 formedon the lower arm or lever 14. This construction makes the device morecompact than that disclosed in the preceding figures, while stillretaining the .ad-

justability of weights26. It will be apparent that these weights may belocked against one another in any position desired alongathe rod 27...If desired, "the weights 26 may be omitted in some instances, in whichcase the lever 14 Will be provided with a'projection 34 to take'theplace of'weights26, as shown in Fig- 9.

It will be noted that the novel spurious coin separator of thisinvention is of extremely simple construction, ofcompact design, and inpractice the same has been'found to substantially eliminate the use ofspurious coins V 1 slot machines, the same serving to eject the spuriouscoins which are commonly returned to the users ofsuch coins. Theadjustability of the weights 26 enables the lever 14 to be readilyadjusted to, suit any denomination of coin, or "if desired, dillerentlevers may ,be cast for the several denominatlons ofcoins, as suggestedin Fig. 9. Thewidthof the-opening 9 will, of course, vary in accordancewith the varying denominations of coins;

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of'this invention could be madeWithout departing from vthescope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings, shall 7 be interpreted as illustrative and not in a lime itingsense.

What is claimed is: f s

1. A'spurious-coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slotthereinfor conveying coins toward a receiving receptacle, said memberhaving a spurious coin discharge opening communicating with said slot,said member being transversely inclined in a direction toward saidopening,

a lever pivotally carried by said member and positioned ajaccnt saidslot and said discharge opening, said member havlnga passage betweensaid lever and said slot through which said leveris arranged to projectso as to extend into said. slot above the adjacent margin ofsaid'd'ischarge opening for the purpose of. ejecting spurious coinsthrough said discharge opening, said lever being;depressibleby a propercoin so as to be offset below the adjacent margin of saiddischargeopening.

2. A spuriouscoinseparator comprising,- a member having acoln slotthereintor conveying' coins toward a receiving receptacle, said coinslot having a side wall with a spurious coin discharge opening thereinand a lower wall serving as a runway for coins, said side wall havingthe discharged opening being outwardly and upwardly inclined, saidmember having a recess communicating with said slot, a lever pivotedwithin said recess and arranged to project into said coin slot so as tolie inthe path of movement of coins passing therethrough but with aportion thereof above the lower margin of said discharge opening, saidlever being arranged to be forced out of said coin slot and below thelower margin of said discharge opening by genuine coins moving in saidslot but acting to remain in said slot during the passage vof spuriouscoins, to thereby divert said spurious coins outwardly through saidspurious coin discharge opening.

3. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slottherein for conveying coins toward a receiving receptacle, said coinslot having a side wall with a spurious coin discharge opening-thereinand a lower wall serving as a runway for coins, said member beingtransversely inclined toward said discharge opening, said member havinga recess below said coin slot and icommunicating with the latter, alever pivotally mounted Within said recess and being biased so that aportion thereof initially projects upwardly into said coin slot adjacentsaid spurious coin discharge opening and above the lower margin thereof,said lever serving to partially obstruct the passage of coins throughsaid coin slot and being arranged to vbe depressed downwardly into saidrecess and below the lower margin of said discharge opening by thepassage of genuine coins, but acting to elevate the lighter spuriouscoins so that the same are ejected through said spurious coin dischargeopening.

4. A spurious coin separator comprising,

in a member having a coin slot therein for discharge opening and abovethe lower margin of the latter, said lever being arranged to bedepressed substantially'out of said coin slot and below the lower marginof said discharge opening by the weight of a passing genuine coin, butremaining partially within said coin slot and above the lowermargin ofsaid discharge opening during the passage of a lighter spurious coin, tothereby divert said coin so that the latter is ejected through saidspurious coin discharge opening.

5. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slottherein, said member having a spurious coin discharge openingcommunicating with said coin slot, saidmember being transverselyinclined toward said discharge opening, a lever pivotally carried bysaid member adjacent said coin slot, said lever being adjustablyweighted so that a portion thereof normally projects into said coin slotabove a margin of said discharge opening, the weighted adjustment ofsaid lever being such that a genuine coin in passing through said coinslot will substantially remove said lever portion from the path ofmovement of the coin and below said margin of said discharge opening,whereas a lighter and spuriouscoin will fail to so remove said leverportion with the result that said spurious coin is deflected by saidlever portion outwardly through said spurious coin discharge opening.

6. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member having a coin slottherein provided with an inclined lower wall, said member having aspurious coin discharge opening communicating with said coin slot, saidmember being transversely inclined toward said discharge opening, alever pivotally carried by said member adjacent said coin slot, thelower wall of said coin slot being partially cut away to accommodatesaid lever, said lower wall and the upper surface of said lever servingin use as a coin runway, said lever being adjustably weighted so thatthe forward end portion thereof normally projects upwardly into saidcoin slot above said lower wall andabove a margin of said dischargeopening, the weighted adjustment of said lever being such that a genuinecoin in advancing upon the raised forward end portion of said lever actsto depress such lever forward portion below said margin of the dischargeopening, causing the upper surface of the lever to move into substantialalignment with the lower wall of said coin slot whereupon said genuinecoin continues along saidcoin slot while rolling over said lever,whereas a lighter spurious coin, in advancing upon said lever forwardportion, fails to depress the same, but in riding upon such forwardportion is raised above the margin of said discharge opening so as tofall outwardly therethrough. I

7. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member provided with atransversely tipped coin'slot having a lower wall with an elongatedopening therein, a lever pivoted below saidcoin slot'and having itsupper surface arranged to substantially close the opening in said lowerwall, weighted means onsaid lever for causing an end portion thereof toproject upwardly into said coin slot, whereby a coin in rolling downsaid coin slot is caused to engage said lever projecting end portion,said weighted means being of such magnitude that a genuine coin willdepress said lever end portion causing said lever to be turneddownwardly so that its upper surface moves into substantial alignmentwith the lower surface of said coin slot, said coin slot having aspurious coin discharge opening positioned in the side wall thereof justabove said lever upper surface when such surface is in substantialalignment with said coin slot lower wall.

8. A spurious coin separator comprising, a member provided with a coinslot having a lower wall with an elongated opening therein, a leverpivoted below said coin slot and having its upper surface arranged tosubstantially close the opening in said lower wall, weighted means onsaid lever for causing an end portion thereof to project upwardly intosaid coin slot, whereby a coin in rolling down said coin slot is causedto engage said lever projecting end portion, said weightcdmeans being ofsuch magnitude that a genuine coin will depress said lever end portioncausing said lever to be turned downwardly so that the upper surfacemoves into substantial alignment with the lower surface of said coinslot, said coin slot having a spurious coin discharge opening positionedin the side wall thereof just above said lever upper surface when suchsurface is in substantial alignment with said coin slot lower wall, saidspurious coin discharge opening being somewhat narrowerthan the diameterof a genuine coin, the coin slot side wall containing said dischargeopening being inv clined with respect to the vertical so that a coinwill lean thereagainst as the same passes said discharge opening.

In testimony, that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereuntoset my hand this 21st day of August 1931.

EDWARD P. DONNELLAN.

